We engaged with audiences across the globe during our summer webinar series.

From June 15th to July 14th 2020 we organised and hosted a nine part webinar series. Over five weeks we explained the processes that need to be followed in order for a new diagnostic test to be successfully adopted by the NHS. As experts in this area, we also emphasised how we can help diagnostic test developers to build a multi-disciplinary team and generate appropriate evidence that reveals the potential benefit of their new technologies.

In total 155 participants from 18 countries spanning Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America attended the live sessions. The audience represented a range of organisations including 43 companies and 29 universities.

The series was an opportunity for us to showcase our collaborations as presenters from the NIHR Newcastle MIC team were joined by experts from Newcastle University Population Health Sciences Institute and School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics. After an introduction to the “evidence development pathway” we provided a step by step guide to: performing care pathway analysis; assessing diagnostic accuracy; demonstrating clinical utility; conducting a systematic literature review; delivering a successful clinical study; involving patients and the public in research and executing health economic evaluations. These concepts were covered in our recent paper. 

 In our final webinar Dr. Bassil Akra, CEO of QUNIQUE GmbH, provided an update on the changes associated with the European Union’s Medical Device Regulation and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation. Incorporating feedback we received, future sessions will provide examples of our work and include insights from diagnostic developers who have worked with us.

Feedback from participants was very positive:

• 100% respondents rated the webinars excellent, very good or good
• 100% respondents would be interested in hearing from us regarding future events

We had high levels of engagement throughout the series with 60% participants attending more than one live webinar. The sessions were recorded, allowing individuals to also watch the webinars at their convenience. So far the recordings have had over 500 views on YouTube. In our feedback survey, over 50% respondents revealed that they had watched both live and recorded webinars.

“I thought it was really excellent. I liked the way that the webinars followed the approach outlined in the Graziadio article.”

“I just wanted to say that the MIC webinars have been excellent! I’ve been to a number over lockdown, and yours are some of the best. really engaging and interesting speakers, and good presentations!”

“I found it very interesting, well organized and well presented”

You can view our first webinar, which introduced the “evidence development pathway” for diagnostic tests, on our YouTube channel.